Good question. The world of Cyona already has a continent which has the various staple fantasy races (human, elf, dwarf, orc, hobbit et al) so we'd like to avoid those. However, we don't want too many really far out alien-style races. The bulk of intelligent races should be roughly humanoid and not have too many crazy superpowers, since eventually we'll be writing up rules for these races and using them as player characters and enemies in DnD games.

That said, there is certainly room for some more non-standard creatures on the continent. As an upper limit on power and differentness, think intelligent dragons, truly huge giants, tree people, living statues and the like.

May I throw an potentially interesting idea out into the field? Do with it what you will, just something to consider as you craft your wonderous land of fantasy.

It could be interesting to have a dead race in the world. Thing the Aelids from Oblivion or the Tevinter Imperium from Dragon Age. You know, take a race, advance them, and then wipe them out. The land is then left strewn with the ancient ruins of this race. They could prove useful as dungeons in future camapigns as well as a source of valuable relics.